Hey guys, sorry this took so long to get up- at one of my jobs my boss hurt her back so everyone else had to pull double duty, and then I had to take an emergency trip to deal with my brother's hospitalization (he's fine now, he just got food poisoning and his roommate decided it was better safe than sorry and took him to the ER) and then got back home right as we had a very severe storm- and I just got electricity back today. Sheesh, it's only April and 2016 has already been one nonstop clusterfuck. Usually I don't get this burnt out until August or so. Hopefully this won't take me so long for the next part.
Despite his rapid departure from that strange not-quite-world, Ben took a while to regain consciousness completely- probably a side effect of the drugs they'd used to knock him out in order to conduct the surgery. He felt himself drifting- sort of there one moment, somewhere else the next. Finally, he was able to focus his vision and keep his eyes open long enough for the monitors to register that he'd regained consciousness, and almost immediately, the doctors were on him like carrion-birds on a corpse.
“It's very strange,” Doctor Arkkriss said, shaking her head once she realized Ben was awake. “When we did the test the first time, there was nothing there! When you asked us to re-run the test, we found a mass in your lung. And you were right- there was something in there. It's not anything I've ever seen before- how did you end up with a metal device in the interior of your lungs? It's not possible that you inhaled it.”
“Mm,” was all Ben managed to say. His head still felt slushy, and his tongue rebelled against forming words. The doctor handed him a cup of ice chips, which he gratefully took.
“You've been out for three days,” the doctor continued. “It wasn't a particularly difficult surgery, and we didn't use anything unusual medication-wise on you, but your body... well, it was almost like your lung did not want to let go of the device we found. I was worried you wouldn't wake up, that we'd accidentally sent you into shock.”
Now that was news to Ben. He'd been out for three days? It seemed like he'd spent maybe twenty minutes at the most talking to Hux's mother. Maybe time worked differently when you were dead. “..three days?” he managed to rasp out. Doctor Arkkriss nodded.
“Don't worry too much,” she replied. “Once that thing was out of you, your vitals were fine and you seemed relatively stable. Your body likely just needed the rest to recover from whatever that thing was. It didn't stop General Hux from panicking, though. He was here whenever he wasn't on duty, and we almost had to ban him from the medbay, since he kept trying to get poor Lieutenant Mitaka to keep an eye on you when he couldn't. As though the lieutenant isn't here for medical treatment too!” The woman snorted, shaking her head. “I'll leave you to it- I'll be back in half an hour to check on you. Suck on those ice chips, though, your mouth must be very dry.”
Hux had been looking out for him while he was out, and he was concerned enough to make the medical bay staff consider barring him from entry? Ben couldn't figure out why. Ever since that night when he'd accidentally transmitted his voice, Hux had been a constant, meddling presence in his life, and even if you held a blaster to his head and demanded an answer as to why, Ben wouldn't have been able to tell you. He was nobody! He was supposed to be dead! Hux actually had duties, a life, and things to live for. Why was he so obsessed with Ben's well-being?
Actually, now that he thought about it, there was something strange about how Moa had reacted to him, too- almost like she was telling him to look after her son... but in a manner that was more than just mere acquaintances. Hadn't she even gone on to say that she shouldn't approve of their relationship because of who his parents were? That almost sounded like what a parent would say to their child's future spouse, or something like that. But that couldn't possibly be right. There wasn't anything there. Hux was probably just alarmed that he'd found a half-dead man on his ship, and Moa had as good as said that being dead was boring- she was probably just seeing things that weren't really there in an unconscious attempt to liven up her afterlife. There wasn't any other logical explanation for it.
With those thoughts taking root in his mind, Ben finished his ice chips and drifted back into an uneasy sleep.
Re: FILL: Ghost in the Machine [17/?]
Despite his rapid departure from that strange not-quite-world, Ben took a while to regain consciousness completely- probably a side effect of the drugs they'd used to knock him out in order to conduct the surgery. He felt himself drifting- sort of there one moment, somewhere else the next. Finally, he was able to focus his vision and keep his eyes open long enough for the monitors to register that he'd regained consciousness, and almost immediately, the doctors were on him like carrion-birds on a corpse.
“It's very strange,” Doctor Arkkriss said, shaking her head once she realized Ben was awake. “When we did the test the first time, there was nothing there! When you asked us to re-run the test, we found a mass in your lung. And you were right- there was something in there. It's not anything I've ever seen before- how did you end up with a metal device in the interior of your lungs? It's not possible that you inhaled it.”
“Mm,” was all Ben managed to say. His head still felt slushy, and his tongue rebelled against forming words. The doctor handed him a cup of ice chips, which he gratefully took.
“You've been out for three days,” the doctor continued. “It wasn't a particularly difficult surgery, and we didn't use anything unusual medication-wise on you, but your body... well, it was almost like your lung did not want to let go of the device we found. I was worried you wouldn't wake up, that we'd accidentally sent you into shock.”
Now that was news to Ben. He'd been out for three days? It seemed like he'd spent maybe twenty minutes at the most talking to Hux's mother. Maybe time worked differently when you were dead. “..three days?” he managed to rasp out. Doctor Arkkriss nodded.
“Don't worry too much,” she replied. “Once that thing was out of you, your vitals were fine and you seemed relatively stable. Your body likely just needed the rest to recover from whatever that thing was. It didn't stop General Hux from panicking, though. He was here whenever he wasn't on duty, and we almost had to ban him from the medbay, since he kept trying to get poor Lieutenant Mitaka to keep an eye on you when he couldn't. As though the lieutenant isn't here for medical treatment too!” The woman snorted, shaking her head. “I'll leave you to it- I'll be back in half an hour to check on you. Suck on those ice chips, though, your mouth must be very dry.”
Hux had been looking out for him while he was out, and he was concerned enough to make the medical bay staff consider barring him from entry? Ben couldn't figure out why. Ever since that night when he'd accidentally transmitted his voice, Hux had been a constant, meddling presence in his life, and even if you held a blaster to his head and demanded an answer as to why, Ben wouldn't have been able to tell you. He was nobody! He was supposed to be dead! Hux actually had duties, a life, and things to live for. Why was he so obsessed with Ben's well-being?
Actually, now that he thought about it, there was something strange about how Moa had reacted to him, too- almost like she was telling him to look after her son... but in a manner that was more than just mere acquaintances. Hadn't she even gone on to say that she shouldn't approve of their relationship because of who his parents were? That almost sounded like what a parent would say to their child's future spouse, or something like that. But that couldn't possibly be right. There wasn't anything there. Hux was probably just alarmed that he'd found a half-dead man on his ship, and Moa had as good as said that being dead was boring- she was probably just seeing things that weren't really there in an unconscious attempt to liven up her afterlife. There wasn't any other logical explanation for it.
With those thoughts taking root in his mind, Ben finished his ice chips and drifted back into an uneasy sleep.